The heavy hitters are back ...
The shortlist for the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards has been revealed, with a diverse group of publishers and writers, including four previous winners in one category.
The four finalists in the fiction category – Stephen Daisley, Pip Adam, Eleanor Catton and Emily Perkins – have all won previously
“It is quite remarkable you’ve got those well-established heavy hitters returning to the shortlist,” said Nicola Legat, chairperson of the New Zealand Book Awards Trust.
But across the finalists, there was a good mixture of first-time authors and various established authors coming back with new books.
Often in the past, a small number of publishers dominated the list, but this year there were 11 different publishers across 16 books. There were a number of smaller, independent publishers, which was a sign of quality across the industry, Legat said.
“I think that gives you an indication that across its breadth, the publishing industry is performing at a very high level.”
Legat said there had been an emergence of a whole new generation of Pacific and Māori writers in the last decade. But increasingly, there was also a new generation of Asian writers – whether they were
New Zealand born or new immigrants.
Included among those is finalist poet Grace Yee. Based in Melbourne, Yee became the first poet in a decade to win the overall award at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards with her debut poetry book Chinese Fish.
This work follows multiple generations of a Chinese family in Aotearoa between the 1960s and 1980s. It offers an intimate insight into the lives of women and girls in the community and the narratives that surrounded
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
■ A Better Place by Stephen Daisley (Text
Publishing)
■ Audition by Pip Adam (Te Herenga
Waka University Press)
■ Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te
Herenga Waka University Press)
■ (Bloomsbury)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
■ At the Point of Seeing by Megan Kitching
(Otago University Press)*
■ Chinese Fish by Grace Yee (Giramondo
Publishing)*
■ Root Leaf Flower Fruit by Bill Nelson (Te
Herenga Waka University Press)
■ Talia by Isla Huia (Te Āti Haunui
a-Pāpārangi, Uenuku) (Dead Bird Books)*
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
■ Don Binney: Flight Path by Gregory
O’Brien (Auckland University Press) them, both from within the culture in their families and a Pākehā-dominated society with racist legislation.
The winners will be announced on May 15 at the Auckland Writers Festival.
The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn
■ Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager’s Field Guide by Liv Sisson (Penguin, Penguin Random House)* ■ Marilynn Webb: Folded in the Hills by Lauren Gutsell, Lucy Hammonds, Bridget Reweti (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi) (Dunedin Public Art Gallery)
■ Rugby League in New Zealand: A People’s History by Ryan Bodman (Bridget Williams Books)*
General Non-Fiction Award
■ An Indigenous Ocean: Pacific Essays by
Damon Salesa (Bridget Williams Books)
■ Laughing at the Dark: A Memoir by Barbara Else (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
■ Ngātokimatawhaorua: The Biography of a Waka by Jeff Evans (Massey University Press)
■ There’s a Cure for This by Emma Espiner (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou) (Penguin, Penguin Random House) *
Prize for Fiction will receive $65,000, and each of the other main category winners will receive $12,000. Each of the Best First Book winners, for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction, will be awarded $3000.